Presenting tangible heritage through virtual reality in education contexts

Global trends in heritage related work point to an increasing use of cutting edge computing and technological setups. This emerging digital paradigm, which includes new tools and platforms such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, has revolutionized the documentation, representation and dissemination of the historical monuments (Addison 2000). This has positively impacted diverse sectors such as tourism, archeology, cultural heritage preservation, entertainment etc. Digital cultural heritage is transforming the education sector as well. It is opening up new avenues in academic research and is also significantly influencing stakeholders in school and higher education. In line with these developments, the project is constituted in the following domain: 360 degree Virtual Reality (VR) immersive experiences of historical monuments based on school syllabuses

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is a natural development from virtual reality (VR), which was developed several decades earlier. AR complements VR in many ways. Due to the advantages of the user being able to see both the real and virtual objects simultaneously, AR is far more intuitive, but it's not completely detached from human factors and other restrictions. AR doesn't consume as much time and effort in the applications because it's not required to construct the entire virtual scene and the environment. In this book, several new and emerging application areas of AR are presented and divided into three sections. The first section contains applications in outdoor and mobile AR, such as construction, restoration, security and surveillance. The second section deals with AR in medical, biological, and human bodies. The third and final section contains a number of new and useful applications in daily living and learning

Mixed Reality Images: Trilogy of Synthetic Realities III

The interplay of physical reality and digital media technologies is getting enhanced by new interfaces. The age of hyper-reality turns into the age of hyper-aesthetics and immersive image technologies - like mixed reality - enable a completely novel form of interaction and user relation with the virtual image structures, the different screen technologies, and embedded physical artefacts for interaction. "Mixed Reality Images" contributes to the wide range of the hyper-aesthetic image discourse to connect the concept of mixed reality images with the approaches in modern media theory, philosophy, perceptual theory, aesthetics, computer graphics and art theory as well as the complex range of image science. This volume monitors and discusses the relation of images and technological evolution in the context of mixed reality within the perspective of an autonomous image science

Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering

The 'othering' of Africa and its diasporas in Western museum practices

This thesis examines how curatorial approaches to the display and interpretation of artworks and cultural objects from the African continent, as well as works by diasporan artists of African descent, have changed over time in Western museums and galleries – focusing on histories and geographies of acquisition, collection development, exhibition assemblage, narrative interpretation and other curatorial practices. With particular reference to the culture sectors in Britain and France it investigates how and why exhibits with African provenance have been ‘othered’ in both ethnographic and fine art contexts, drawing on fieldwork undertaken at four case study institutions: the British Museum, Tate, the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Through the application of qualitative research methods – including walk-through reviews of permanent holdings on display, archive-based surveys of past exhibitions, visual analysis of selected exhibits, and semi-structured interviews with curators and other creative professionals – questions are addressed in relation to the nature and extent of othering, the impacts of Self/Other binarism, and amelioration strategies to improve museum and gallery experiences for more diverse audiences. As prior scholarship in this field has tended to concentrate on colonial-era constructions of selfhood and otherness, primarily articulated and exhibited via ethnographic collections, this discursive investigation also examines postcolonial manifestations and legacies of othering observed in 21st century, post-modern displays of fine art. The theoretical perspectives of selected black feminist scholars provide the framework for adopting a non-adjunctive position of resistance from which to read ‘against (as well as along) the grain’ of established Western canons of knowledge and prevailing curatorial orthodoxy. By tracing the historical palimpsests and contemporary networks that connect artists, curators, objects and audiences over time and space, the inherent tensions, instabilities paradoxes and limitations of Self/Other binarism are exposed – opening up opportunities to consider alternative, more conceptually nuanced, inclusive and internationally dialogical museum practices in the West informed by the dynamics of transnationalism, diaspora formation and globalisation

The 'othering' of Africa and its diasporas in Western museum practices

This thesis examines how curatorial approaches to the display and interpretation of artworks and cultural objects from the African continent, as well as works by diasporan artists of African descent, have changed over time in Western museums and galleries – focusing on histories and geographies of acquisition, collection development, exhibition assemblage, narrative interpretation and other curatorial practices. With particular reference to the culture sectors in Britain and France it investigates how and why exhibits with African provenance have been ‘othered’ in both ethnographic and fine art contexts, drawing on fieldwork undertaken at four case study institutions: the British Museum, Tate, the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Through the application of qualitative research methods – including walk-through reviews of permanent holdings on display, archive-based surveys of past exhibitions, visual analysis of selected exhibits, and semi-structured interviews with curators and other creative professionals – questions are addressed in relation to the nature and extent of othering, the impacts of Self/Other binarism, and amelioration strategies to improve museum and gallery experiences for more diverse audiences. As prior scholarship in this field has tended to concentrate on colonial-era constructions of selfhood and otherness, primarily articulated and exhibited via ethnographic collections, this discursive investigation also examines postcolonial manifestations and legacies of othering observed in 21st century, post-modern displays of fine art. The theoretical perspectives of selected black feminist scholars provide the framework for adopting a non-adjunctive position of resistance from which to read ‘against (as well as along) the grain’ of established Western canons of knowledge and prevailing curatorial orthodoxy. By tracing the historical palimpsests and contemporary networks that connect artists, curators, objects and audiences over time and space, the inherent tensions, instabilities paradoxes and limitations of Self/Other binarism are exposed – opening up opportunities to consider alternative, more conceptually nuanced, inclusive and internationally dialogical museum practices in the West informed by the dynamics of transnationalism, diaspora formation and globalisation